Chennai: Three Journalists from Tamil Nadu win, this year, the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award that includes News18 Tamilnadu’s Chief Editor M Gunasekaran, Freelance Journalist Sandhya Ravishankar for her contribution to The Wire and Vijay Kumar S from The Hindu for his Investigative reporting on Gutka Scam.
M Gunasekaran, the editorial head of the Tamil News Channel ‘News 18 Tamilnadu’ was awarded Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award 2017 under Regional Languages Broadcast category for his reports on fisherfolk during Cyclone Ockh. He happens to be the first Journalist from the whole of Tamil News Media fraternity comprising TV, Print and Digital to win the coveted award.
Apart from extensive ground reporting, Gunasekaran had produced one-hour documentary ‘Kaalathin Kural’ that highlighted the damages caused by the cyclone and its impact on the fisherfolk in the region. His dedication towards reporting the calamity has secured him the prestigious award.
Sandhya Ravishankar won the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award for environmental reporting for her four-part series on illegal beach sand mining in Tamil Nadu that was published on ‘The Wire’
The award has acknowledged the Investigative Journalism of Vijay Kumar S from The Hindu News paper for his reports on how taxmen alerted officials about payoffs in the Tamil Nadu gutka scam – but were ignored. The Gutka Scam has implicated the senior ministers and Top Cops of Tamilnadu.
